NC State found its 'mojo' to beat Wake Forest behind a 51-point second half

When NC State coach Wes Moore sat down in the Reynolds Coliseum interview room, he made a joke about turning the clock back 20 years at the start of the Wolfpack’s regular season finale 75-57 win over Wake Forest.

The red and white scored 8 points in the first quarter, which tied its lowest output of the season, while Wake Forest logged just 4 in the first 10 minutes. It was not a pretty sight and both teams combined to shoot just 6-for-34 from the floor in the period. 

“Felt sorry for our fans,” Moore joked afterwards. “Glad it wasn’t on TV.”

The second quarter went slightly better with both teams gradually finding a rhythm. But when the second half rolled around, it seemed as if neither team would miss — quite the opposite of the first 20 minutes. 

Wake Forest knocked down 70.6% of its shots in the quarter to explode for 31 points, while NC State had a 64.3% clip to score 24 points. The two squads combined to score more points in the third quarter than they did in the entire first half. 

The Demon Deacons were able to take a 50-48 lead with a made 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter, and it seemed like the Wolfpack was teetering on the brink of a loss to the last-place team in the ACC. 

But NC State responded with the next 11 points to take a commanding lead that it never relinquished the rest of the way. It shot 53.8% in the period, while the defense held Wake Forest to just 25% in the quarter. 

“We fortunately hit some shots, got our mojo and got some stops on the defensive end,” Moore said. “It wasn’t always pretty, but this team seems to find a way to win most of the time. Just glad to get that behind us.”

The difference between the first and fourth quarters seemed to be the team’s energy on the floor, junior guard Saniya Rivers said. 

“The energy was a big difference,” Rivers said. “It wasn’t good [early on]. Coming out in the second half, fourth quarter specifically, that’s how we play. The energy definitely shifted and that’s what we need early.”

Moore thought the Pack fell into its tendency of standing around on offense and settling for a jump shot, rather than driving to the basket in the first half. But NC State was able to get back to what has allowed it to be successful this season in the second half — driving to the rim and kicking out for open threes. 

NC State took advantage of that with three made triples, including a pair from graduate forward Mimi Collins, who brought the Reynolds Coliseum crowd to its feet. Her second triple, which gave the Pack a 10-point lead, made the old barn the loudest it was all day. 

That energy was contagious, but not in the way most would think. NC State’s enthusiasm on the floor reverberated into the 5,500 in attendance instead. 

“The crowd is amazing,” Rivers said. “The crowd gets into it when we get into. When we’re coming in there with low energy, it just doesn’t really work. They come to see us have fun, and when we’re not having fun, they’re not having fun. No one wants to pay to watch us score 8 points a quarter.”

The Wolfpack scored 51 points in the second half to cruise to the win, including a 27-10 advantage in the final quarter. Moore was pleased that his team was able to avoid dropping the contest to the Demon Deacons and took care of business when it needed to. 

“We’ve worked so hard all year long, you don’t want to just throw it out the window right here,” Moore said. “At some point, you gotta dig deep. … I’m proud of them, they were able to do that in the fourth quarter.”

Now, the page turns to the postseason. The Wolfpack locked into the second seed in the ACC tournament at the end of the week in Greensboro. While it was tested by a team that some might not have expected heading into the game, that is not the performance that Moore was hoping for, though they pulled it out late.

It was not the complete effort the Wolfpack’s coach wanted to see from his squad. 

“I was hoping we’d play well for 40 minutes,” Moore said. “You can make an argument that we played well for 10 minutes. We were hoping to build some momentum here, obviously we had a big game Thursday night with a lot on the line, … We’re fixing to get into where you lose and go home, we need to be playing well and putting 40 minutes together.”